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Alfredo Aceves' role on the pitching staff has been uncertain in recent days.

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine has said he wants to stretch Aceves' outings, but Valentine didn't say whether that would be as a starter or in long relief.

On Sunday, though, Valentine said he was leaning toward giving Aceves a start before the end of the season.

"The program is for him to pitch a couple innings sometime after October," Valentine said, according to ESPNBoston.com. "If we want to move that up a couple days and get a couple innings in, we’ll visit that. I don’t know the benefit of it."

Valentine has been on the verge of overusing Aceves recently — he's called on him in four of the last five games for 143 pitches, a huge total considering Aceves' arm hasn't been conditioned for that kind of workload this season.

Reliever Scott Atchison is scheduled to make a return from a forearm strain later this month, which could offer Valentine the flexibility to slide Aceves to the rotation if he chooses.

"[I've] given a thought" to the idea, Valentine said.

Considering Red Sox' starting pitchers haven't made it into the fourth inning in three straight starts, there's nothing to lose.